New Music To Know: Daley

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Some artists are discovered in back room deals by industry insiders who package them and turn them into a commodity that the iTunes buying public can stomach. And some artists, like Manchester’s blue-eyed soulful son Daley, spring (nearly) fully formed from their own imagination with accolades from their peers.

Daley is part of the burgeoning soul and R&B movement out of the UK. On the heels of Amy Winehouse, whose “Love Is A Losing Game” he covered and released on the date of her untimely passing, and Adele but very much his own man. Daley’s music at time harkens back to the ’90s, and at times back to the quiet storm as created by Sade vibe of the ’80s, and can even go further back to the ’60s, but his music never seems to relent on the idea of being being grounded very much in modern day production and style.

“I think the term that I’ve come up with that I really feel like works is future throwback soul, if I was going to have to put it in a little phrase, because it is literally what it says,” Daley said in an interview with Radio.com. “The music I make definitely always has soul at the core. When I write, I write from a very honest place and hopefully a very relatable place. In terms of where it is musically, it’s definitely inspired by music from the past and the things I’ve been influenced by and inspired by. I really want my music to feel of it’s time and even a little futuristic. Although there are many artists who pull it off very well, I don’t want to be an artist who is retro or old school.”

As Daley has moved into his own career, he hasn’t shied away from continuing to work closely with other artists. The lead single off his forthcoming album, “Remember Me,” is a pop-leaning affair recorded with Jessie J, who Daley calls a friend.

“I guess ‘Remember Me’ was probably my first music video where I feel like it was really from start to finish [my own]. It was something that I really enjoyed because when I wrote the song I had this vision. I had this visual in my head of what the visual should look like. I have quite a visual mind anyway. The color scheme — the peach backdrop with the black and the striking visual elements were something that I started to storyboard and put together…We planned it out and the day of shooting was a lot of fun. Me and Jessie J are good friends so we just had some fun with it.”

Daley’s debut album, Days and Nights, will be released in 2013. His current EP, Those Who Wait, which features the singles “Remember Me” and “Alone Together” with Floetry’s Marsha Ambrosius as well as Daley’s cover of Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” is available now.